Landscape in Sicily

Description: Evidence indicates an organised human presence in Sicily durng the Mesolithic Age (circa 10,000 BC). Drawings found in the Addaura Cavern, beneath the slopes of Mount Pellegrino near Palermo, have been dated to about 8000 BC and imply that the neolithic culture which eventually emerged was quite similar to those present in central and western... ( +expand to view full text )

Description: Evidence indicates an organised human presence in Sicily durng the Mesolithic Age (circa 10,000 BC). Drawings found in the Addaura Cavern, beneath the slopes of Mount Pellegrino near Palermo, have been dated to about 8000 BC and imply that the neolithic culture which eventually emerged was quite similar to those present in central and western Europe. The Sicanians are identified as the earliest "native" Sicilian civilisation, possibly direct descendants of the earliest humans present here, followed by the Sicels and Elymians. We are uncertain whether the first people arrived in Sicily from the North or the South, but the Sicanian language probably was not Indo-European, while Elymian and Sicel were. The megalithic temple of "Diana" at Cefal¨´ is probably Sicanian in origin. By around 1100 BC, two populations arrived to inhabit certain parts of Sicily, in the process forcing the Sicanians away from certain territories. In the east, the Sicels (or Sikels), from whom the island takes its name, arrived from the Italian peninsula. Their language was probably Italic. The Elymians arrived, probably via Africa, from western Asia (possibly what is now Turkey) and occupied parts of northwestern Sicily (Egesta, Eryx, Entella). It appears that the Elymians, despite their proximity to what (by 700 BC) was Phoenician Sicily, assimilated easily with the conquering Greeks, followed by the Sicels. The Sicanians eventually amalgamated with the Greeks, but theirs was a slower assimilation with a completely alien culture. Having founded Carthage in North Africa, the Phoenicians began to colonize the northwest of Sicily around 800 BC, founding Mozia, Solunto and Palermo. About the same time, the Greeks arrived in eastern Sicily, establishing Naxos (near Taormina) followed by Catania and Messina. Though the three Sicilian civilizations were eventually amalgamated with Hellenic culture, the Greeks often found themselves in conflict with the Carthaginians --partly because of Greco-Phoenician conflicts in the eastern Mediterranean. The Sicilians of today are said to be a "mixed race" (i.e. varied ethnic group) descended from early Sicilians (Sicani, Sicels, Elymians) and the peoples who subsequently conquered or colonized Sicily: Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantine Greeks, Saracen Arabs, Normans, and to some extent Longobards, Goths, Angevin French, Aragonese and Spanish. A number of Sicilians are descended from Albanians who settled in several communities in the sixteenth century. Sicilian genetics and ethnology are indeed complex, a fact confirmed by genetic studies and known history. This polyglot heritage has had some interesting results. The Sicilian language (dialect), for example, has various foreign elements, and the dialect spoken in several towns has some Longobardic phrases and syntax. There are several communities settled by Albanians in the fifteenth century where an old form of Albanian is still spoken by some residents. The comparatively large number of redheaded Sicilians is attributed to the island's Norman heritage, and the Normans themselves were at once Scandinavian and French. Compared to Tunisians, quite a few Sicilians have blue eyes, a trait inherited from Norman and Longobard forebears. The Inquisition suppressed Islam and Judaism, but many Sicilian surnames are onomastically Arabic and Hebrew in origin. The Byzantine Rite churches of the Albanian communities, though Roman Catholic today, are rooted in the Orthodox tradition of Albania and Greece.